Native plants are enjoying their moment in the sun: the Chelsea Flower Show's winning courtyard garden was stuffed with them, and they were the star attractions in many a contemporary show garden. On a quick stroll around my own plot, I counted at least 20 British plants, many of which we often think of as weeds but which can be combined with exotics to spectacular effect. Here are my favourites.

Natives for sun

Dipsacus fullonum

The teasel is perhaps our most architectural native plant. It's a rather ordinary sight on waste ground and embankments, yet becomes almost glamorous in a garden setting, erupting in 2m green towers in May and June. When the thistle-like flower heads age to near black, they become even more dramatic, staying defiantly upright and intact.

Team with The knee-high pheasant grass, Anemanthele lessoniana, and clouds of purple Verbena bonariensis

Pilosella aurantiaca

At the other end of the size scale is the summer-flowering plant fox and cubs which thrives on grassy, sunny banks and roadsides. The small clusters of rich, orange, daisy-like flowers sit on 40cm leafless stems. The mats of green leaves at the base take up only the available space between its neighbours and even keep weeds at bay. They'll seed about and can also spread with runners. With such an efficient reproductive system, you'd expect them to be invasive, but I find them curiously self-regulating.

Team with The pale greens and blonds of the fine Mexican grass Stipa tenuissima

Euphorbia cyparissias

The cypress spurge is a little more rampant than fox and cubs, but is easily removed by hand. This feathery, almost fern-like 50cm perennial sports delicate, bright yellow bracts that turn red.

Team with Stipa tenuissima also works well here, but I like to plant cypress spurge at the base of bearded iris; it lets through enough sun to bake their rhizomes, yet still disguises bare soil.

Natives for shade

Iris foetidissima

Where a combination of shade and drought is intolerable to foreign plants, I fall back on the stinking iris. This 80cm tall evergreen has pale purple flowers that appear now, followed by shiny red seeds in autumn. The name comes from the scent of the leaves when crushed, but don't let that put you off.

Team with Arum italicum subsp. italicum 'Marmoratum'. Its cream-veined leaves last from winter to late spring, when pale greenish white spathes appear, to be followed by bright berries in the autumn.

Deschampsia cespitosa

Tufted hair grass is very common in woodlands. Planted en masse, the 1m pale green flowers that appear from now to August create an ethereal haze. Like many natives, it readily self-seeds - you can look on this as a nuisance, or embrace it as some serendipitous hand that throws up surprises.

Team with The Japanese tassel fern, Polystichum polyblepharum, which gives a dark counterbalance to pale grasses. In light shade Aconitum 'Stainless Steel' introduces spikes of colour.

Angelica archangelica

A brilliant architectural plant for moist, shady spots. It makes stately, 2m tall plants of green foliage topped by huge globes of tiny, yellowish flowers in June and July. It's a biennial, so dies out after flowering in the second year, but it self-seeds, and seedlings can be transplanted where you want them. This year I've gone for the shorter cultivar, Angelica sylvestris ('Vicar's Mead'), which has purple leaves and pinkish flowers.

Team with The Mediterranean Acanthus spinosus and wild ginger, Asarum europaeum, to form a carpet of evergreen leaves at its base.